12 days on, cops have no leads

Twelve days after senior journalist J Dey was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants in Powai, the police still had no leads on the identity of the assassins or the motive.

Twelve days after senior journalist J Dey was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants in Powai, the police still had no leads on the identity of the assassins or the motive.

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On Tuesday, the police had filed a 30-page confidential report on the progress in the investigations and got two more weeks from the Bombay high court for the probe. “We are analysing huge amounts of data collected from two of Dey’s four email accounts. We are also scrutinising call records in Dey’s mobile phones.

Those whom he was in regular touch with are being summoned and their statements recorded,” said a crime branch officer on Wednesday, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media. Most senior crime branch officers avoided the media.

The officer said till Wednesday, more than 180 persons had been called and let off after their statements were recorded. Those include criminals from near Powai, underworld informers and Dey’s informers and sources in the bookmaking business.

Activist questioned

The police, on Tuesday, picked up an activist from a political party, Nihal Tanna, for questioning after it was found that Dey had spoken to him a couple of days before his murder. Tanna was found to possess a .32 calibre revolver (the same weapon used in Dey’s killing). “But, he produced his licence for the weapon and the bullets were all accounted for,” said DCP Ambadas Pote.